


sojourn

by Dreamicide



Category: The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 14:18:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8848318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamicide/pseuds/Dreamicide
Summary: It’s the first time she’s stepped within the walls of Castletown in four years.





	

It’s the first time she’s stepped within the walls of Castletown in four years. The streets are desolate of intelligent life, having long since been abandoned by her people. Without its regular upkeep, the cobblestones crumble, and dirt and grime permeate every corner. ReDeads and vermin serve as the only inhabitants.

  
The air is stale on her tongue. The city has already perished long ago; it is dead, and its carcass still rotting.

  
Her destination remains the only place untouched by evil. The sacred, holy ground is a natural repellant to any darkness that dares lick at its walls. She can feel hours of battle and exertion roll off her shoulders as she fluidly passes over the threshold, a sigh worth a thousand years emptying her lungs.

  
The Temple of Time is just as Zelda remembers it. Donned in full Sheikah regalia, she moves silently through the main chamber, feeling the innocent sun through stained glass windows warming her skin. The only difference is the addition of the three Spiritual Stones at the altar; she never had a chance to see them with her own eyes before everything fell to ruin.

  
The only visible part of her features - a faux red eye - crinkles slightly as she takes in the sight, the small tilt of her lips hidden beneath her mask.

  
If she had gazed upon the jewels as the princess of years before, Zelda knows she would surely have had sparkles in her eyes and gushed to the hero who brought them, blind to her own ignorance.

  
Zelda takes a moment to kneel at the altar and pray to the Goddesses. It used to be that she could spend hours in her prayers, asking for guidance and health to every individual she could remember, but today she has not the luxury of time. Impa does not know of her whereabouts - she would not have permitted it if she did. Sacred and holy as it is, the temple still stands in the heart of the enemy’s territory. They’d argued over the matter once; Impa sternly reminded her that nothing could - or should - be done for the hero until his awakening, thus any visit would only serve to place her in vulnerability.

  
But it’s been four years.

  
Zelda slowly rights herself and passes the altar, meeting face to face with the Door of Time. Its intricate carvings glare forebodingly down at her, like a largely built bodyguard crossing their arms and warning that they were to move for no one. Just beyond that barrier holds the Sacred Realm.

  
It also holds him.

  
Expression unreadable, Zelda reaches a hand and splays her fingers across the cool marble surface, before stepping closer. Turning a cheek, she leans against the door and closes her eyes.

 

Breathes.

  
He’s within her reach yet protected with an impenetrable barrier. She’s grown over the last four years, has honed her body’s strengths to levels she never imagined, but she will never be strong enough to reach him of her own will. And when he finally wakes, it will be to this shell of a country Hyrule once was. All because of her childish foolishness.

  
Pressing her forehead to the Door of Time, Zelda prays once more; not to the Three Goddesses, but to her hero. She begs for him to wake up. She begs for his forgiveness.


End file.
